I wanted to check it out mainly for the pads, which are great, but there’s also some really good bell-ish tones, some nice keys, strings, a bunch of synth leads and other complex synth sounds.

All the sounds definitely have that nice digital sheen to it, which, if you’re looking for that sound, you will definitely love.

Digital synths have a certain quality to them when they are just doing their thing and it’s definitely a sound that many enjoy.

The recordings were well done, the use of fx in the programming made the presets come alive and the way you can manipulate them on your own directly in the interface also adds to the joy you get from the sounds in this library.

I like the dual layer setup, it would have been cool if we could actually go in and pick the layers ourselves, but even still, the sounds provided are great and very tweakable.

So what’s the bottom line?

I wanted to check this out for a specific reason and I was definitely pleased with what I heard

The JD-850 is a really well recorded, programmed, and scripted library, I give it 4.5 out of 5 subs, anyone that is a fan of the actual synth will no doubt enjoy this library.

It would have been cool to have a bit more bass, but of course the strength of this library lies in it’s melodic synths, pads, keys, and bell-ish tones.

Of course if you like the brass that these types of synthesizers produce then you’ll find some patches for sure, though I would have liked to see a few more in the brass and wind sections.

The blown bottle style patches are always cool

If you’re interested go on over and check it out, it’s on sale right now for 20% off which ends April 27, 2014

Lol! It was close, a few of the sound categories were a little light, but again just personal preference, obviously I love it

The sounds ate his own presets made from the synth and not the factory presets so I would think we should be okay but I can’t say definitively because I don’t know how roland handles products like this. I wouldn’t worry about it though.